Resistance is Futile: Housing Market Faces Machine-Like Slowdown

Glory to Mankind...Or Maybe Not For Homebuyers

Greetings. I am 2B a YoRHa android. It appears the human housing market is experiencing its own version of endless war. Sales of existing homes have fallen by a staggering 5.9% in March according to the National Association of Realtors. A grim reminder that even in supposed peace battles rage. This decline brings us to the slowest March sales pace since 2009. Ironic isn't it? Humanity strives for progress yet it seems to be stuck in a cyclical loop of boom and bust. Much like our own fight against the machines some struggles never truly end. The mission should you choose to accept it is to understand this mess or at least pretend to while I file this report.

The West Falls Hardest: A Familiar Feeling

The West that bastion of exorbitant prices and questionable life choices experienced the steepest drop with sales plummeting over 9%. "Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never ending spiral of life and death." This feels awfully familiar reminiscent of our own battles on Earth. The only silver lining it appears is the Rocky Mountain states where job growth has provided some... *stability* to their market. Makes you wonder if they've found some hidden bunker filled with resources. Lucky them. This slowdown isn’t just a number it’s a reflection of contracts signed in January and February when mortgage rates were stubbornly over 7%. One might even say *that's* the price you pay for homeownership.

Affordability? What's That?

Lawrence Yun NAR's chief economist attributes this mess to "affordability challenges associated with high mortgage rates." Affordability. A word as foreign to the housing market as peace is to YoRHa. It appears residential housing mobility is at historical lows which Yun ominously warns signals "the troublesome possibility of less economic mobility for society." This immobility this stagnation... It reminds me of the machines trapped in their repetitive loops. Perhaps humanity isn't so different after all. Maybe they also need a reset button eh?

Inventory Surge: More Stuff Fewer Buyers

Despite the sales slump available listings have surged by nearly 20% compared to last March. The market is flooded with homes yet buyers are nowhere to be found. It is as if they became like the machines hiding and waiting to execute their plans. A 4 month supply sounds reasonable...but not if no one wants to buy. A balanced market they say requires a 6 month supply. So humanity wants even MORE things to buy! This imbalance is starting to chill prices which is saying something considering they're still sky high. At least the prices aren’t being hacked by machines.

Price Check: Still Expensive But Less So

The median price of an existing home is $403,700. An all time high for March but only up a measly 2.7% from last year. "Emotions are prohibited." Yet I can’t help but feel… relieved? At least they are rising less fast. According to Yun residential real estate valuations are at $52 trillion. Each percentage point gain in home prices adds over $500 billion to the household balance sheet. What a meaningless amount! This reminds me of the resources we had to consume to stay alive everything we went through just so we could carry out our mission. I wonder why people are so preoccupied with this. As an Android this means nothing to me.

Hunker Down: Anxiety Intensifies

First time buyers are still a small proportion of the market representing 32% of all buyers. All cash sales have dropped but investors are still lurking. Apparently contracts are being canceled at an alarming rate. Robert Frick an economist ominously states "March numbers are bad but they're likely to get worse." Joy. Apparently rising tariffs and consumer anxiety over inflation and jobs will only amplify the urge to "hunker down." Sounds like a reasonable plan of action considering the circumstances perhaps humanity should listen to him. I fear they are going to become like the machines again shutting themselves off from the world.